Texas’s Permian production seen surpassing better-known Eagle Ford

By Claudia Assis

South Texas’s Eagle Ford shale may get all the attention, but West Texas’s Permian basin is giving it a run for its money.

Between January and June, Permian basin oil production has surpassed Eagle Ford’s — 889,808 barrels a day versus 598,706 barrels a day in the South Texas formation, this story in the Houston Business Journal said, citing numbers from the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the state’s energy sector.

Permian is likely to reach 2 million barrels a day within five years, eventually filling the gap as production from North Dakota’s Bakken shale moderates.

Eagle Ford is on track to produce 930,000 barrels a day this year and the Bakken’s Williston Basin is seen producing a little over a million barrels in 2013. But that’s expected to flip in 2014. Permian is forecast to produce 1.4 million barrels a day this year, the newspaper said.

Eagle Ford is expected to keep its current pace while production from the Permian will pick up, mostly due to increased horizontal drilling.

Horizontal drilling, though in the news much less than “fracking”, has played a key role in boosting domestic production. While not new, the technique, combined with hydraulic fracturing, has made the shale “revolution” possible.

For the visual learners out there, Oklahoma’s Oil & Natural Gas Producers and Royalty Owners’ website has explains the process with animation, a bit lengthy but comprehensive.

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